How good did that feel? Be honest!
At 1-0 were you worried about the result? Be honest!Hearing "sacked in the morning" and YNWA reverberate at Stamford Bridge was awesome. I had a massive smile on my face.
Like you, I was supremely confident of winning this one pre-match. That said, when the goal went in and Chelsea started to sit back I did get a couple of flashbacks from the game in April 2014, mainly because I knew how few goals we'd scored recently.
However, not once did I ever give a shit about the actual result. I remember thinking to myself before Coutinho's goal how delightful the first half had been, and was even mentally preparing some very positive comments for the HT thread about our play just before Coutinho's goal.
That isn't to say I wasn't delirious about the goal, but it was the performance that pleased me most, and Indidnt worry one bit about the prospect of losing the game.
Lovren - our new DM? Lovren was brought on for 3 simple reasons:
1. Falcao came on to give Chelsea two up top and as such a 2v2 against Skrtel and Sakho, so introducing another player deep to help win second balls was smart.
2. Chelsea were inevitably launching crosses into the box in the last few minutes so we needed someone to help defend these.
3. Can and Lucas were on YC's so we needed someone to help hack players down in DM if needed. Allen would have been considered if not for point 2 above, as he would have had no impact on defending crosses.
As I've said before, I think Lovren can improve significantly under Klopp's guidance, as he'll be playing in a compact system that minimises 1v1 situations in vast open spaces, and not requiring CB's to pass the ball more than they're naturally comfortably doing.
Skrtel - his best performance this season?Regarding the Costa kick situation, I think Nessy summed it up best:
Games like this, you need a nasty git, a thug, a bit of a tough guy. Skrtel's bark is worse than his bite and he's more likely to rip your shirt than break yer legs, but the way he faced Costa after that kick, shit. I would not want to be looking into that face in that mood. He projected menace, a halloween creature, an unnatural thing of the night. And Costa did look a bit scared of the guy he'd just shoved his studs into. Like he'd just realised what he'd done, and how little it had hurt Skrtel. If you're going to stick something in Skrtel's chest, it has to be a stake, or he'll just get up again.
Skrtel was impressive, but less so for being
individually brilliant, and more so for how he fit into the system. No more dropping off early, and he looked assured playing inside Chelsea's half.
Skrtel's job was made easier by the pressing of players ahead of him, as that meant that there was little threat in behind Skrtel, as the ball-carrying midfielders never had time or space to look up for a pass.
Credit to Skrtel for dominating Costa so thoroughly though. I don't remember a single header lost or an instance where Costa was allowed more than a square meter on the ball. Skrtel neutralised him very well.
As a few people (spiderNeil, babuyagu, and myself among others) have predicted would happen, improving the compactness and pressing of our midfield and shortening the distance between last man and our strikers off the ball made it easier for us to win the ball back and made our defense look solid again.
I'm curious to see how Skrtel will deal with Palace's forwards though, as Bolasie, Zaha, and Gayle are all players who want to run behind him (unlike Oscar, Hazard, and Willian, and Costa this season), and in Cabaye Palace have a player who excels at picking out passes over the top. I think Palace will be a trickier game for Martin than the Chelsea game was, as man marking Costa suits him better than tracking runs of several agile forwards.
Shape - we looked much more dangerous in 4-2-3-1 than 4-3-2-1. Is the former for containment first, the latter for high pressing/counter-attacking?4321 worked well vs Spurs because we wanted to block off the central areas that Spurs like to play in. The formation allowed us on stay compact in front of our back 4, while having two players (Coutinho and Lallana) blocking the passing lanes into the spaces between our lines.
Coutinho Lallana
Can Lucas Milner
I went into this in more detail in the Kazan preview thread iirc, but in general 4231 should be the formation we see more often, with 4321 only chosen against teams who attack very narrow and have little threat on the wings. In any case, Milner and Henderson are two perfect players for that RCM/RM position that requires them to tuck-in defensively but then explode forward in possession.
Ibe - flashes that his form is coming back?
Ibe has certainly shown some nice flashes, particularly against Bournemouth. His energy, pace, and directness is a fantastic weapon to have off the bench, which will be his main tactical role until he can start to add goals to his game one would think. There were promising signs against Biurnemouth (where he should have had an assist if Origi had scored his header) and Chelsea (where he had a good shot blocked and an assist for Benteke off the right).
Benteke - not the team player Origi/Firmino is but just unplayable in this mood. Is starting with him on the bench something we will see more in big games like this?Klopp is approaching Benteke with more caution than he'd probably like, due to te injury situation, but even if everyone was fit I think Klopp would still want to vary his tactics. Benteke is a hugely formidable striker to bring off te bench though if that's the chosen approach.